Well it's been several days since I've put anything up, so I thought I'd throw a quick up date on the blog before work. Unfortunately no pictures this time, I guess nothing that exciting has been going on.

The past couple of mornings I have just been preparing to play some songs at the nursing home this weekend. Looks like we'll do 3 of them this time. We're going to have a light crew for it this Sunday as well, most of the kids will probably stay home because of the chickenpox going around. From what Ken said though he has something a little different planned for the nursing home this Sunday, so it still should be good.

Wes has now been away for almost a week, and has only been able to make contact here once, as far as I know anyway. It sounded from like what he said that he was having a good time though, so continue to pray that God would bless the group up there.

I am as of yet undecided as to what my plans are for Saturday. I was thinking about going down to Callaway, but am not really sure yet. I might just wait till there's some people to go with. I guess I'm just much more of a social "animal" than I used to be... Heh. But, who knows, I may still go down there, if there's nothing really going on here.

And that's about all. Like I said, not much exciting happening right now, so not really a whole lot to write about. Maybe something big will happen this weekend, but I dunno, just have to wait and see!

Psalm 42:1 "...As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after the, O God."

World's Fastest Half-Mile

We're back from the track! What a day it was! Bristol Motor speedway, the most exciting short-track ever devised! In combination with the "car of tomorrow" debut, the racing was exciting. It was also unimaginably loud! Thankfully we had the in-car radios with sound-deadening earphones. Kyle Busch was eventually pronounced the winner, with Jeff Burton coming in an extremely close 2nd.

We left the hotel for the track at 5:30 am, and arrived at the track around 7, and eventually made our way to sales trailers, and then to the inside of the track. We must have walked miles that morning. We went all the way around the track and then all the way back. This did wonders for the legs today....

The race was everything it was built up to be. Fast, action packed, and crazy all the way around. It was a blast, it's just too bad it couldn't be longer than just one weekend. I'm glad the traffic afterwards didn't last longer than a weekend though, it was quite long enough. It put me behind by at least 2 hours! So, I got home this morning around 2 am, and slept much later than I normally do, it was well worth it though!

Today when I got into work Ken gave me something. It was a membership to Callaway Gardens here in GA. It was so unexpected! I was so surprised, and what a cool thing! I hear that it is a really cool place. Good place for biking, and a beautiful area! Now I'm really looking forward to this spring and summer, we should really be able to have a lot of fun there!

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

All Creation Sings His Praise

Here I go again. It's Thursday night, about 20 minutes until I will leave work. Thought I'd write a quick post, update some info, and all that good stuff.

I woke up this morning to a beautiful day, and decided to go play with my camera for a little while. There are plenty of pictures posted on my photo page, but here's my favorite of the day.

If you can't read what it says on the bottom it says "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork"

What beauty God has created, it's hard to imagine that anyone could believe that this whole world came about by chance. All creation sings His praise!! God's creation alone bares witness to Him.

After reading a little bit about a certain photography course yesterday on http://ips.iblp.org/. I have decided that they are right in their motives. Any photography I do should be to the glory of God. I mean really all I am doing is capturing a single moment in God's great creation, and to me it just screams out "Glory to God in the highest!!!!!"

On another note.... I found out a bit more about Ede's nose today. It turns out that it's not actually the cartilage part of it that is broken, but the actual bone itself. I guess in this case it will require surgery. She has a pre-op appointment tomorrow, and then it's back again on Tuesday for the actual surgery. Pray for her, I'm sure it won't be too much fun. On the good side, at least her chickenpox are mostly gone!!!

Also, this Saturday, I will be driving up to Virginia, and Chris will be driving down there. At the same time, Wesley, will be flying up to Chicago and then be driven up to the upper peninsula of Michigan. He will be attending a "Journey to the Heart." Pray that God would give us all safe trips, and that He would really bless Wes as he is away these 10 days.

Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

Monday mornings....

Here I sit, another Monday come around. Thought I'd just throw something quick up there this morning, highlighting yesterday's events.

We had two very good services yesterday, and they just happened to tie in with the devotional I was reading this morning. I'll post the main verse from both at the end of this post. Forgiveness and bitterness were the topics. It is so true that so many issues arise from people being bitter toward each other and just never dealing with it.

Anyway, I'm now just waiting till next weekend, when I will head up first to VA, for a hotel, then back down to Bristol TN for the race. Chris and I will be up there this weekend, and it looks to be a great time. I'll definitely be snapping pictures that day, hopefully we will have good weather for it.

That brings about our events of yesterday. Jessie and I had a little bit of car fun between the services. He decided he wanted some pictures of him and his Camry, so I gladly obliged.



Matthew 18:12-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven

What a day...

The day started out well. I got up at 5:50, so that I would be on time to cook for the men's breakfast on Saturday morning. We had a good time of sharing and discussion. It wasn't a large crowd that we had there, but still it was a very good time. During my time of cooking I tried to get some sunrise pictures, but it wasn't a really good location, but here is one that I got that was OK.

I also snapped this picture of our American flag as the sun was coming up.

After the breakfast I had to go rotate my tires, they were a little overdue, and I have a slight trip to make next weekend, so I needed to be totally prepared. Ken said that I could do it at his house, so I headed there afterward. I started out with the driver side, but when I finished that some of us guys headed over to pick up some material for the bunny cage that Ken and the boys have been building. The Lord provided the material they needed free of charge from a torn down building. The roof was completed quickly after that.

I was a little worried about today to tell the truth. I knew I would be heading over there to rotate my tires, and with Ede having chickenpox I wasn't sure she would be comfortable with me coming in and being there, but she told one of the kids to tell me I could come in as long as I didn't laugh. =) To this request I readily promised that I would not have laughed either way.

I really felt bad that she had gotten them, I know it wasn't my fault or anything, I just know that she is greatly vexed by them, and just how annoying they can be. But that was just the beginning, I felt even worse by the end of the day. She came out for the first time since Wednesday, and was looking at the bunnies, when the two boys convinced me to play some football. They then got her and Ruby involved as well. Long story made short, after about 3 or 4 plays, Ede and William smacked heads together, leaving William, no doubt, with a knot on his head, and Ede......... With a broken nose.............

I felt soooo bad for her. It was enough just to have the "pox," but then adding that to it.... UGH!!! It was terrible. So she went to the hospital, and they took x-rays, and said it may be broken in more than one place..... UGH Again!!! She will be going back again on Tuesday for the results, and any setting or anything they have to do to it. I guess they have to wait 72 hours before anything can be done to it.

After getting back though, she came again to be in pretty good spirits, and we all watched a DVD on a Christian family where the 4 daughters formed a string quartet, which sounded just great. After that we all had a time of prayer, and the younger kids went to bed. Us older ones stayed up a bit longer, drank some malts...mmmmmm.... and played some Rook!! Nearing the end of the game Ede felt as though she had a fever, and was quite worn out from the events of the day. We finished up, and I headed out. I am extremely thankful for them having me over almost all day long, and feeding me, and just everything!!!!!

Please do pray for Ede though, I'm sure it's discouraging to be dealing with all of the stuff while having such a tight schedule before graduating this year. We know that God will provide, and meet the needs there, but I know she would appreciate much prayer as well.

Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Different

Well, as you can see, I changed around my blog a little bit. Made it more fitting to my current mood =P Actually the background and everything just fit the top picture better, so that is really the description of my life. Whizzing by at unfathomable speed. A few things are stationary, but the majority is there for a second and then gone! It truly is a fast paced life at times, and I can't always account for where it all goes.

Like the cars whizzing by, so are the thoughts of my everyday experiences. I believe in just 5 minutes I can, uncommonly to most people, think about 50 different things, or angles of a given situation. Sometimes this is useful, it works out well for my job, which much of it is problem solving. Other times it can just be a pain in the butt! Wondering about the present and the future, and if I stay on something too long the risk of it turning from wonder to worry, and that's not where I want to go!!

Recently some of my thought have been about where I am in God's eyes. Am I living the way He would want me to? Do all of my thoughts, actions, and words show forth His glory? What ways can I minister to people that I am now neglecting?

I know that right now God has put a great desire in me to encourage Godly fathers in our community. What is it that our churches, and our nation is made up of? .....Families!!! It is my opinion that many of the problems arising in these places today is because of the lack of leadership in our homes. Though I am young, and inexperienced in the area, still, I have a burden to encourage fathers to become strong leaders in their homes, which is part of the reason I am attending the "Dad's Conference" in April, so that I can learn more ways to be an encouragement. The other reason I'm going up there is because one day I hope to be a father as well, and when that day comes I want to be the best father, husband, and leader in the home that I can be.

So... you may agree with me, and you may not, whatever the case is, please do pray for me!

Malachi 4:6a "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..."

Interesting stuff....

Wednesday night, getting close to bed... Perfect time to post. We've been working on the 1st quarter PC roll out at work, 10 new PCs every day, it keeps us very busy. I'm really looking forward to some rest tonight.

However I did want to share this latest picture... I took it after work tonight... My first attempt at a night picture. It's not great, but it's a start!

In either case, hope everyone has a good night tonight, and a good day tomorrow. Please remember to pray for us as well as the people there, as we go to the nursing home this weekend.

Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him."

Whirlwind

Wow... What a whirlwind of a weekend... it started and just did not stop!!! I apologize for not posting Saturday with pictures as I had stated, but time and I aren't the best of friends... and when us two are involved "definite" is a very relative term. Still, here I am, at it again, and this time actually having some new pic's!

The busy weekend started Friday at about 6:30pm. This is when I went to UPS to pick up my new item!!! =) For those who may not know yet, I got a new camera. It is a Canon Digital Rebel XT. Since getting it the shutter has not stopped moving, and there wasn't a better weekend for it.

Friday continued with another game of cards, Hearts was the game this time. With so many people, there was a lot of luck involved, but still I WON!!!! I only took 9. I don't care what Mike says, it was pure talent! =)

Next came Saturday, which began with a nice breakfast at good ol' McDonald's, good stuff. Mike and I then continued feverishly preparing for the paintball festivities scheduled for the afternoon. A quick stop at my house, on the way to get air for the guns, revealed to me that my new CF card for my camera had also come that very morning. (PICTURES GALORE) I guess we had about 10 people playing paintball that day, and we all had a great time.

Here's one of the group: Ede (kind enough to film us all) Wes, Chad, William, Ferrol, Ken, Oluf, Merrol, Me(Joe), Mike, and Greg.

After Paintball ended it was time to eat cake. You see, this was Mike's birthday party, a month late. If you knew the circumstances, you will know why it was a month late... very good cause!

Then came Sunday. We had a Gideon presentation that took a while, then, when he was done, Ede presented a little bit on the CI trip. She talked about the 4 CI's and then had a slide presentation. She may have been a little nervous, but it didn't show, and she did a great job.

After the service I was invited to head over to their house for lunch, to which there was no way I was going to decline!! I had a really good time. After lunch we went over to one of the parking lots in Newnan, where we tried to sell some of Wesley's bunnies. While most of us did this, Ruth and Ede went to look for Easter shirts.

Soon after we headed back to the house, where it was time to play with the new "Big Red Bat, and ball." Now that was just a great time, having fun with all the kids, who were all having a blast!

And this just brings us to today, where I sit at my computer writing up the next post. I can only look back at the weekend and say praise God for the good time he allowed us all to have, and praise him for the friends and family he gives us to have fun with!!!!

Colossians 3:16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Mid-week Musings

Sorry but, I won't be posting any pictures today, although I will definitely be putting some up Saturday night. I just have a little bit of time before work today, so I thought I'd throw an update onto the post.

Last night was an interesting night... I got a call at my desk at about 7:15. Someone was saying that they had some stuff not working on their computer, of course in the Yamaha area, it couldn't have been further away. So, I drove up there on the golf cart, and started working on the problem. Eventually Ken came up with me, and after a little while of troubleshooting, we figured out, and fixed the problem. This happened right at 8:00, the time to leave!!! As we drove back down I told Ken that I had asked when she had started having the problem, to which she responded, "around 4:00." So my question was why in the world did she wait until 7:15 to call us............... Oh well though, just one of "those" users I guess. At least we got it fixed when we did, and didn't have to stay any longer.

When I got home last night, I also ordered something cool!!! It will be fun I think, and will improve my blog a little too!!! When I get it, I'll put up some pictures so everyone can see what it is. =)

Until then everyone have a great time!!!

John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Whew....

It's been quite a day. I feel already that this could turn out to be a long post... but it will include pictures! I also plan on updating the photo album tonight as well. Pictures of my new Sunday wears will be included too!!

Things went very well pretty much all day long. I woke up early, got to church early. In Sunday school today we learned about Hebrews 10, Doc Lescelius taught us and it was good. After this was our morning worship time, where we started with some singing, and taking care of some business in the church. Brother Joel spoke this morning for the message. He is a missionary in Peru, they also joined our church today! All of the things we had to do today made for a extra long service, we didn't finish until about 1:00, but that was alright, it was a good service. Just after the service one of my friends asked to talk to me, and that quick little conversation, and their great sensitivity meant a lot to me, and encouraged me very much!!!

After the service was dinner at the church, and somehow, as always, I ended up at the end of the line, and usually when you're there, there's really not that much food left, so I gave Mike a call, and we made a quick Taco Bell run. mmmmmm.

Then at 2:00 was supposed to be the men's meeting, although it didn't actually end up starting till 2:30, we were still out before the ladies meeting. =) It gave us just enough time to head over, and get ready for the nursing home.

Ken tried something new today, and it worked out very well. The people in the nursing home are always hearing preaching from every church that comes. So Ken thought we might try a format more like a Sunday school. He was asking questions, and getting their opinions, and they were participating very much. I think it really worked out great, and I think they really enjoyed it.

After the nursing home came dinner and the "Great Spades Game." We were divided up into 4 teams, and 2 teams each played each other, then the winners played the winners, and the losers played the losers. Wow... It was soooo much fun!!!!! I came in second with my partner Ken, we were so close though... But the undisputed winners, and champions of the night were Mike and Mary, but that's alright, I could have come in last and still had fun. I just really enjoy hanging out with all of my friends and the kids, and hopefully they don't get too sick of me!!

In closing, especially remember to pray for Ede. She has been coughing a lot today, so much so that even her sides stared to hurt from it all. It's about the worst that it's been since she caught this bug.

Also, thank you everyone for making today such a great day. Praise the Lord, He is good!!!

Psalm 150:6 "Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."

Saturday's gone....

Saturday was a a very busy day. In the morning I finished the original version of "Pride and Prejudice." I'm not really decided which I like better. I like most of the casting in the latest one, but enjoy the story line of the first. Either way, I enjoyed both very much.

Sometime in the early afternoon we headed out to the nursing home, it's about an hour to get there, and most everybody was reading stuff on the way, so I pretty much just sat an took in the scenery around the highway. =) The nursing home went well though, we sung several songs, and Brother Merril brought a message on Psalm 23.

Following the nursing home we went over to Chucky Cheese's and had a ball. It was a lot of fun to go around to all the games and play with the kids, and they really had a blast. They were all winning all kinds of tickets so they could turn them in for a prize at the end.

So, everyone had a really fun day. Today (Sunday) we have our morning services followed by dinner at the church, then our men's and ladies meetings. After these we will be going to another nursing home, this time a little closer, only about 5 minutes from Ken and Ruth's house. After that, who knows just how much fun we will have....